Inhibition of interferons by ectromelia virus.

ABSTRACT: Ectromelia virus (EV) is an orthopoxvirus (OPV) that causes mousepox, a severe disease of laboratory mice. Mousepox is a useful model of OPV infection because EV is likely to be a natural mouse pathogen, unlike its close relatives vaccinia virus (VV) and variola virus. Several studies have highlighted the importance of mouse interferons (IFNs) in resistance to and recovery from EV infection, but little is known of the anti-IFN strategies encoded by the virus itself. We have determined that 12 distinct strains and isolates of EV encode soluble, secreted receptors for IFN-gamma (vIFN-gammaR) and IFN-alpha/beta (vIFN-alpha/betaR) that are homologous to those identified in other OPVs. We demonstrate for the first time that the EV vIFN-gammaR has the unique ability to inhibit the biological act

SUBMITTER: Smith VP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC135801 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature